This invention relates to an air conditioning apparatus of an air mix type for automotive vehicles.
A conventional apparatus of this type comprises a heater device, such as a heater core, located in an air passageway, and is adapted to mix warm air, which has flowed though the heater device, in suitable proportions with cool air that has bypassed the heating device, to produce conditioned air of a desired temperature. In the conventional apparatus, resistance offered to an air current flowing through the air passageway in which the heating device is located differs from that offered to an air current flowing through the air passageway that bypasses the heating device, so that it is desirable to provide means for reducing the cool air current in vigor to improve the condition for mixing the cool air current with the warm air current. On the other hand, it has been desired to reduce as much as possible the resistance offered to an air current by the air passageways to minimize noises that might be generated when the apparatus is operated to produce the conditioned air, particularly when operated in a maximum cooling mode. It is also necessary to reduce the resistance of the air passageway in order to economize on the consumption of power for operating a blower motor.
Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 37008/82 discloses an air conditioning apparatus of a reheat air mix type for automotive vehicles having the construction in which an auxiliary cool air passageway is defined outside the air passageway for leading cool air directly to air outlets. This construction is intended to cause a differential to occur in temperature between air currents directed towards the driver's seat and the seat for a passenger adjacent the driver, and no consideration is given to the reducing of the resistance offered to a cool air current by maximizing the opening of the passageway for the exclusive use of the cool air current. In addition, since the auxiliary cool air passageway is located outside the air passageway, the problem is raised that the apparatus becomes large in volume and narrows the space in the vehicle for riders.